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Summer Session II 2013 AHI 190f/290
Buddhist art and architecture at major Buddhist sties around China/b>
This fast-paced, intensive study and travel proseminar focuses on Buddhist art in sculpture,
painting, and architecture, dating from the 4th century through the Qing Dynasty. We examine
sculptures and paintings at major cultural sites including Yungang (in the northeast, with the earliest
colossal Buddha sculpture cut from the living rock), Dunhuang (in the northwest on the Silk Road),
and Longmen (in central-eastern China, with one of the most beautiful colossal sculptures in the
world). We will visit the Shaolin Temple, first Chan (Zen) Buddhism temple in China, where we will
see a martial arts demonstration by the famous monks of Shaolin. We will study the earliest surviving
wooden structures in China, the Nanchan and Foguang Temples on Mt. Wutai, one of China’s most
sacred mountains, and some of China’s earliest surviving pagodas and monasteries at Xian. We will
also visit the Hanging Temple, built high up into a cliff at Mt. Heng. It can be no accident that the
sponsors and monks of the Buddhist sites that we will visit chose some of the most beautiful places
in China.
We will make the most of our time at every site. This means that upon occasion, we will travel to
sites that are outside the Buddhist focus of the course, such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall,
and the Terra Cotta Warriors of the First Emperor of China.
We will learn about recent archaeological finds, and meet Chinese university students. When possible, we will catch up on current trends in contemporary Chinese art at artists’ studios and galleries.
Undergrads will enroll in AHI 190F and AHI 198. Graduate students will enroll in AHI 290 and AHI
298
Tentative syllabus
Instructor:
Katharine Burnett, Ph.D.
Art History Department, UC Davis
Email: kpburnett@ucdavis.edu
About Katharine Burnett
For further information and to apply, contact https://summer-abroad.ucdavis.edu/
email: summer-abroad@ucdavis.edu
phone: 1-800-summer6
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